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“It has to do with love”
An Independence family relishes their annual tradition of displaying true Christmas spirit in their home.
BY
Brooke Pearl
PHOTOGRAPHY
By Gary Rohman

Pete and Loretta Goebel have been in their home for 3½ years. It’s an “old house feel with modern conveniences,” Loretta calls it. But during the winter season, the Country French style magically transforms into a holiday spectacular, with 10½ Christmas trees and the Dickens Christmas Village.

Loretta rejoices in the holiday season, and her husband, she says, is a good sport about it. Red, green and gold blanket the home’s 5,100 square feet, with every tabletop and chandelier dripping with the spirit of the season. But there’s no way she could create her holiday haven alone. “Russ is my Christmas present each year,” she says, referring to interior designer Russ Lawrence, owner of Changing Seasons Gift Gallery. “He knows what I like.”

Pete and Loretta took a trip to Europe for 12 days last year, leaving boxes of decorations scattered throughout the house, and when they returned, Russ had put in the allotted 60 hours it normally takes to decorate the entire home. “We look at Christmas differently than everyone else, and that’s what we try to do,” he says. “It’s a different emotion in every room.”

Starting at the entry, guests will find a Nutcracker-themed study, which includes all ornaments on the tree, Loretta’s Fitz & Floyd Collection of four and the 5-foot-tall Nutcracker focal point. The family tree in the living room, overlooking the swimming pool, is all about family, displaying ornaments from years past, along with heirlooms and those brought back from trips, and it’s the one tree the family always decorates themselves.

In the breakfast room, fairies from Mark Roberts Fairy Collection swing from the chandelier and pose on the stair railing. Each one is adorned with a set of wings, dainty suits, bells and jewels and represents a holiday pastime — the one on the stairs is the decorating fairy, while the wrapping fairy clings to the lights. Others found their way into the kitchen, which is one of Loretta’s favorite spaces, with her holiday tea set and Peggy Karr plate collection. “Lots of sweat went into the kitchen because I know how much it means to Loretta,” Russ says. Her grandson, Benton, however, is intrigued by the mistletoe in Loretta’s bedroom. “Gaga, you have to see your bedroom. Look, it’s mistletoe — it has to do with love,” he told his grandma. She couldn’t agree more.

The rest of the house, in every corner and on every ledge, is just as elaborate: half of a trimmed tree is delicately stuck to the upstairs hallway wall, a black Christmas tree with peacock feathers brings prominence to a guest bedroom, and Loretta owns every piece of Lynn Bywaters’ snowmen sculptures and displays them proudly. However, the decoration that gets the most attention is perhaps the addition that Russ custom built to snuggly fit under the staircase. He made it to match the molding and color in the family room so it looks like part of the original layout.

Moving two chairs that normally sit in the nook under the stairs, Russ spent about 15 hours assembling the custom piece needed to display the Dickens Christmas Village. When the switch is flipped, the hand-painted pathways light up, as well as some of the 120 trees and various buildings, and the liquid glass ponds sparkle as if filled with real water. Town folk are sprinkled around the village, each telling their own story and leaving footprints (as well as marks from the horse-drawn carriages) in the snow.

Yes, the spirit of Christmas is alive and well, not only in this tiny make-believe village but in the entire Goebel home, where every precious decoration is a reminder of this magical season.